It’s a Game Day in Smashville as the Nashville Predators get back to the division, hosting Central Division rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. Bridgestone Arena is sold out, featuring a group of 15,523 Blackhawks fans that came in from Chicago yesterday… don’t expect to find any beer downtown as all downtown bars reported running out of brew by 9pm Friday night, emergency calls have been made to all local breweries to help fill the void. Many Chicago columnists wrote columns complaining about the lack of planning displayed by these establishments and immediately declared it a conspiracy against poor put upon Hawk fans.
It has also been reported that there were 15,523 drunk and disorderly arrests last night in downtown. Due to all of this activity, I hereby declare this… April Fool’s Day.
C’mon… you were buying it because you know it “could… be true… :-)
Let’s get serious as today is the final regular season game between the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators… and a potential playoff preview. The Wild appear to have begun the process of correcting their March swoon, with an OT loss to the Caps and a win over the Ottawa Senators. The Wild are 3-9-2 in their last 14 and their on ice performance has caused near panic among Wild fans.
That disquiet is starting to seep into Pred Nation after two consecutive losses, the Predators have been playing very well during the last half of March, but these last two losses have led to the team dropping to the last wild card slot, trailing the St. Louis Blues by two points heading into the last week of the season.
The Wild are a very good hockey team, make no mistake about that, and if they found their groove again, today could be a very long afternoon for Pred fans. Bruce Boudreau has done an excellent job with this Wild team, keeping the defensive attitude that is part of the DNA of the franchise and unleashed the Wild offense. This could be a dangerous team come April 12.
Nashville has shown it’s fangs over the past few weeks, finally playing like the team it was billed to be in preseason predictions. The JOFA line continues to shine, the blueline continues to play well and the goaltending has been excellent. Again, not the kind of 8 seed you want to see if you are the 1 seed.
The goaltending matchup has not been announced but media reports out of Minneapolis indicate that Alex Staylock could get another start, but I would expect Devan Dubnyk in net for Minnesota and Juuse Saros between the pipes for Nashville. From an injury standpoint, the Preds list Craig Smith with an upper body injury, the reason he was scratched on Thursday. The Wild list Zach Parise with an upper-body injury. Parise missed the Wild’s win over Ottawa after taking a stick to the eye in the Wild’s game against Washington, however, he is expected to play today.
It’s a big one today… the start of a divisional back-to-back that finishes tomorrow in St. Louis. Game time is 1pm and very limited tickets remain.
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Random Notes
- Where We Stand – After yesterday’s play, the Nashville Predators have 89 points in 76 games played and are now in the 2nd Wild Card slot, two points behind St. Louis for 3rd spot in the Central and one point behind Calgary for the first Wild Card slot. Per sportsclubstats.com, the Predators playoff chances are at 99.6%.
- Impact Game(s) Tonight None
- If the Playoffs Started Today - As the 8 seed in the West, the Predators would play the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.
- Teams that have clinched playoff spots - Two more qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs last night, St. Louis and Calgary, 12 down, 4 to go… Washington, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, New York Rangers, Anaheim, San Jose, Edmonton and Montreal have punched their tickets.
- Playoff “Tragic Numbers… - In the West… Los Angeles = 3. In the East… Carolina = 9, Tampa Bay = 10, New York Islanders = 6. (Stick tap to Damian Echecarrieta for this data)
- Nashville does not have a playoff clinching scenario today.
- Watch out for Minnesota’s defense today, they have not allowed more than 20 shots over their last three games.
- Eight games in the NHL today, all times CST – Noon – FLA @ BOS. 1pm – MIN @ NSH. 6pm – OTT @ WPG, TOR @ DET, MTL @ TBL, NJD @ PHI, DAL @ CAR. 9pm – ANA @ EDM.
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